Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

[Tipsy]

As previously announced at VanaFest 2010, the impending version update will usher in the first stage of the long-awaited level cap increase! What factors led to this monumental decision? What implications will it have for adventurers? Today, we would like to take the opportunity to address pressing questions and concerns about the latest major evolution to hit Vana'diel.

Read on for all the details!

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As previously announced at VanaFest 2010, the impending version update will usher in the first stage of the long-awaited level cap increase! What factors led to this monumental decision? What implications will it have for adventurers? Today, we would like to take the opportunity to address pressing questions and concerns about the latest major evolution to hit Vana'diel.

Q: What inspired the decision to increase the level cap?
A: With the cap set at level 75 for quite some time now, a wide variety of monsters, equipment, and game content has been introduced over the years for players who had reached this limit. With such content having been fleshed out to the development team's satisfaction, it was deemed that the time was right to usher in the sort of new challenges that could only come with the ability to achieve higher levels.

Q: What changes can we expect to see after the cap is lifted?
A: Beginning with the upcoming version update, the level cap will be gradually increased to an eventual maximum of 99, with new job abilities, magic spells, weapon skills, and equipment to be made available at these higher levels. These additions, as well as refinements to existing abilities and spells, will focus on preserving and strengthening the unique roles that each main job serves, while increasing the tactical options available to each support job. Needless to say, new game content will also be introduced that will demand every onz of adventurers' newfound might.





Q: What specific changes will be implemented in the coming version update?
A: The level cap will be raised to 80, and new abilities, magic, weapon skills and equipment for players up to this level will be added. Level restrictions placed on certain areas will also be removed, creating additional high-level battlegrounds for players to explore. The level cap increase will also result in a number of existing skills becoming newly available to support jobs, with a few exceptions and adjustments to preserve balance and ensure that main jobs do not see their thunder stolen.

Unusable by Support Jobs
- The white magic job abilities "Afflatus: Misery" and "Afflatus: Solace", and the ninja job abilities Yonin and Innin will not be available to support jobs.
Usable by Support Jobs, with Altered Effects
- The ranger job ability Shadowbind will be subject to an accuracy check, with a miss generating no effect.
- The scholar job abilities Accession and Manifestation will triple (rather than double) recast time for the spells used.


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Interesting, indeed.

EDIT: DRK AoE Stun from /SCH and Convert from BLM/RDM = wonder how Convert will work.

[Takelli]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Unusable by Support Jobs
- The white magic job abilities "Afflatus: Misery" and "Afflatus: Solace", and the ninja job abilities Yonin and Innin will not be available to support jobs.

The Solace one pisses me off. That is so damn useful... Sch/Whm would own with that...

[BurningPanther]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Yearg, I shoulda spent the last few months leveling my subs.

This is gonna be hell...

[Elwynn]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

So... I've heard that there aren't going to be genkai quests, just "requirements". Still no word on what the "requirements" are to go past level 75? This is not just missing from the "Q & A" here, but conspicuously missing.

And Convert was specificalliy not mentioned along with these other level 40 JAs, so that means it really will be full strength?

[Karinya]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Conspicuously missing from this is whether the devs have any plans to stop the last 6 years of level 75 content from turning into complete jokes, and if so, what.

Otherwise, we'll go from a game with 6 years of endgame content to one with 6 months.

The first five levels won't do that much by themselves, but without some kind of adjustment to the game system or mob stats, by level 99, HNMs designed for level 75 will hardly be able to hit players anymore.

[MrMageo]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

The first five levels won't do that much by themselves, but without some kind of adjustment to the game system or mob stats, by level 99, HNMs designed for level 75 will hardly be able to hit players anymore.

Didn't stop SE from doing it before when AF was "endgame" and a handful of NM's,HNM's were around. Then gave us 75 and made pretty well everything that was once endgame lowmanable or soloable.

I am looking forward to soloing kirin, as it was one of the things I promised myself i would do before the game died. (granted @75 it would have been improbable, but at 99, im sure it will be done easily)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

I particularly don't like the confidence SE has in leaving the merit system "as is" at present.

Think about it, you'll still be able to choose between merits and EXP at 75, but with the community's mindset being what it is, if something doesn't change within the two updates after, all players that want the 75 merits will be forced to wait until 99 or just be expected solo merits. Neither option should be desireable.

What's more is that you can't sync to someone set to merits, by my understanding. This is somewhat of an understandable choice, given SE doesn't want someone with a job at 75 still able to whore out colibri for all eternity.

I think SE is going to end up is creating two classes of player - those that want to EXP to cap and then merit and then those who want to complete 75 merits or people just hitting 75 being made to wait to get their 75 merits at whatever the current cap is.

Also, I recently heard someone bring this up elsewhere - what does SE intend to do with Limbus and Sea now that they're setting CoP to Easy Mode with the cap removal? Limbus could get regularly flooded and I doubt SE has any intent of obsoleting the coin rewards and AF upgrades you pick up from Limbus.

A new tier of relic is just a new tier of AF with different functions, its never completely a replacement for the previous tier. I don't think SE will suddenly pull a Blizzard and make Sea and Limbus or even Sky worthless ventures. If they obsoleted the gear, there was no point in lifting the caps because you could just obsolete the content entirely.

But if someone can solo Zippanaca and other demis, how will anyone work for sky gear and abjurations.

These are the concerns SE is not addressing with these changes and that bothers me a great deal.

[Zoltar]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

As long as I can go SMN/RDM and have access to Refresh and/or Convert, I'm good

[Elwynn]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Otherwise, we'll go from a game with 6 years of endgame content to one with 6 months.

Old content is old. Deal with it. Old game is old, too. I don't know if you've noticed, but FFXIV is coming, and FFXI's days are numbered. FFXI will probably still be around in 6 years, but as a niche game with a fourth of the servers, if that many. Let's let FFXI go out in the glory of a 99 cap while it still has a decent playerbase.

The cap used to be 50, and FFXI survived that. Sorry if that means that your e-peen gear is no longer what it used to be. Less QQ more pew-pew. If you've been doing endgame for 6 years, and are doing nothing more than farming endgame for gear that lets you farm endgame better, maybe you should realize that you're in a rut, and you need something like this to shake you out of it.


My only concern is that merits will be a tricky knot to untangle in terms of game mechanics, since many of them (merit spells and merit JAs) were clearly designed with the assumption that the level cap would stay at 75, and there would be no more levels in which to gain new spells and JAs.

Maybe they could do something like, for example, Bio III becoming a spell that you can learn, and your Bio III merits now apply to all tiers of Bio as long as your RDM is at least 75. If you have Bio III merits as of the cutoff date, you automatically learn the spell, otherwise you'll have to find a scroll.

Even Cure V was designed with the assumption of the cap staying at 75, by making it generate low hate. Perhaps when RDM gets Cure V, it will have "normal" hate. And when WHM gets Cure VI, what will that be like in terms of hate?

For that matter, will the hate system hit overflows or hidden caps when people are fighting at level 99? I think we can presume they've tested that, but there may be some strange weirdness that they didn't find in testing.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Old content is old. Deal with it. Old game is old, too. I don't know if you've noticed, but FFXIV is coming, and FFXI's days are numbered. FFXI will probably still be around in 6 years, but as a niche game with a fourth of the servers, if that many. Let's let FFXI go out in the glory of a 99 cap while it still has a decent playerbase.

Content being old and FFXIV have little to do with keeping FFXI a sound experience.

Its fine if they want to add new endgame content and raise the cap, but of the old endgame content is not modernized to suit the new power levels of players, its going to be one big mess.

With the cap only being raised to 80 this time, they have some time to get away with what they're doing now, but if older content is not modernized in the two updates after - they might as well just take the servers down now.

Sky, Sea, Limbus, Dynamis, Einherjar, Salvage, ZNMs, Nyzul and Stronghold NMs will all need to be addressed and updated to reflect this new emphasis of endgame content requiring smaller groups.

You can't just adjust jobs and make that happen, you have to change the content, too.

[Laynton]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

1 thing I realized reading this was that all that time spent skilling up those hard to near impossible skills are not semi wasited(parrying and guarding come to mind as those near impossible) . I know that those who have them capped will have a slight advantage over those who dont when it comes to start leveling again, but I would think it would be a little disheartening to see that hard earned skill capped to be obsolete (same goes with all the endgame armor, which ill get to later). Especially since it would become easier for others to get parrying to 269 with the increase in levels and harder mobs to fight to make the skill-ups easier to get.

I agree with Elwynn in that the game is changing and we need to change with it or gtfo! lol All that endgame or you've spent 6 years fine tuning is now obsolete you say? Not quit. Yes there will be new and better armor but you will already have the upper hand come new HNM's that we have to fight to get the new armor.

80 doesnt consern me to much in regard to sky and sea. The removal of the CoP cap does make me a little worried like bbq was saying. The only thing I see a major change in is that groups will be able to low man sky/sea better and thus I see endgame LS's dropping sky/sea runs and focusing on the new areas, especially the better ones, and thus leaving out the other players that dont have that top noche gear and then having to find another LS to do sky/sea runs...and more than likely be only a half decent LS at that. This probably wont be a probablem till later level cap increases but still a concern.

Then that brings me to the point of what happens to people who are new or only have 1 75 job (me)? I'm still trying to find the time to get my sky/sea/dynamis gear. Lets say I get all the good gear from there and get my RDM to 99 and start getting the good gear from those new endgame areas, whats going to happen when I want to get another job to 99? Say WAR for example, b/c its gear is in contrast to RDM gear. When I get WAR to 75 am I going to be able to even get sky/sea gear by that time? Will we pull a WoW and have it be a pain in the ass to get that older top noche gear since no one runs sky/sea anymore or I'm I just going to suck it up and just use the gear I can get through NM's my 99RDM can solo or the AH and just wait till 99 to even try getting good gear? (Those of you who have play WoW when cap was 60 and then now 80 know what I'm trying to get at)

Lots of stuff thats going to change. BIG CHANGES at that...glad SE is making the jump to 99 in stages instead of all at once other wise I think it wouldve really hurt the game. They are going to have to make some huge changes to content to keep this from exploding in their faces.

[ShadowHolyFlyingDragon]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

I'm not worried. I have a good feeling that alot of endgame will get upscaled to a certain degree. Though, I don't see anything wrong with Kirin being low-manned, Einherjar being ran by a party of 6, or Dynamis being ran by one alliance. The game has gotten older and the older content is dated. While I'm sure it won't all be solo-able, I have a feeling SE will balance out the difficulty because they too have gained alot of experience on MMO's. I think people are just quick to sell SE short for their past history. Everyone and anyone usually learns from their mistakes, especially if there's a dollar sign attached to it.

Before you panic, just keep in mind that SE is simply trying to make a big deal out of what FFXI is capable of (e.g. pushing the envelope of it's limits) before they release FFXIV which will see a large portion of the subscriber base simply shift. It's like the final curtain call, the last big party before the end of the world. It's going to go out with a bang. Let's get a grasp of reality and what the assessement of the situation is. With all the subscriber base gone, alot of things will not be available to do without a big group of people (historically.) Hopefully we'll see a change where things can simply be low-manned. That's a fair assessment.

On a personal note, I feel pretty vindicated that the cap is increasing and the player base is being required to level all over again and get new gear.

[Malacite]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Did Accession & Manifestation really need that level of nerfing though?

I mean honestly, with /SCH you're already limited to a max of 2 charges on a 2 minute timer, that seems limiting enough. And they had to keep Afflatus WHM exclusive or they'd be out of a job (save R3) Yonin too (hi2u PLD/NIN with enmity +30... yeah no.) , though I don't see why they also had to do it to Innin. Innin would have been a great boost for DD jobs, especially THF & DNC (not like anyone invites NIN to DD anyway...)

[cidbahamut]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

It sounded like Accession and Manifestation recast penalties only applied when subbing Scholar. I don't know how that's just a big deal. As /SCH you won't exactly have Stratagems rolling in quickly to spam anyway, and most of the things you'd want to use Accession on either have fairly long durations or have recasts so puny that an extra 5 to 10 seconds isn't going to be all that big a deal.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Exceed Your Limits: Level Cap to Be Lifted! (06/11/2010)

Did Accession & Manifestation really need that level of nerfing though?

Depends.

They could be re-scaling when SCH earn stratagem charges so they can get a few more for the main job and one more for subjobs. If they were doing that, tripling recast timers for /SCH to keep SCH main more powerful would be appropriate.